REVIEW Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience

THEATRE
Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience
★★★★½
Rigby's Bar and Bistro, St George's Terrace
REVIEW Kaitlin Shawcross

You may have never been envious of the poor unsuspecting patrons of Mr Fawlty's hotel on the popular BBC sitcom but if you neglect to make it down to Rigby's Bar and Bistro while the international touring Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience is in town you'll be sure to have missed out.

Faulty Towers (Picture : Rigby's)

Being well aware of the show's antics I was sceptical about what to wear for this dining experience but was assured that there are no intentional spillages in the show - and aside from a few rebounding peanuts and saving some chives in my lap for when my soup arrived I was kept pleasantly safe from disasters.

Arriving at Rigby's, guests are given half an hour or so to mingle and grab drinks at the bar before the incredibly convincing Basil, Sybil and Manuel appear to seat guests and get the unpredictable night underway.

Interactive Theatre claims the show is only one third scripted, allowing for most of the performance to go where the audience and the night takes it.

The actor's did a marvellous job of bringing the audience into their world, for a little over two hours I was dining at the Faulty Towers Restaurant - fire drill and all.

I will admit I have only watched snippets of the BBC show, however it was clear from all in the room that the performance really hit the mark in terms of replicating a real life experience of the TV show.

The characters were authentic, never letting slip their persona's for a moment, and engaged well with the audience while still moving the show along at a good pace.

If there was any fault to draw on the night it could only be the food. I was reasonably hungry upon arriving at Rigby's at 6.30pm for dinner and starving by the time my soup came around - it didn't help that a few at my table had been served several minutes before (the waitressing seemed extremely random, with one plate given here and there to different tables).

The food seemed to stay true to what I felt was a 1970s-style meal representative of the show's era. Dessert, though, really hit the spot.

However I feel my review of the food is hardly worth paying any attention to as the meals are simply a prop to the show and not the show itself and in that regard it does brilliantly.

All the cast gave mammoth effort performances. I enjoyed engaging in chitchat about airport baggage with Sybil (Karen Hamilton) while she was near my table, Rob Langston was a solid, and sometimes terrifying Basil, but Anthony Sottile's portrayal of Manuel took the cake with his flawless accent, ignorance and spot-on facial expressions.

All of them had the crowd in stitches from their elaborate entrance to their disastrous exit.

Long time fans will love how seamlessly the actors weave in key moments from the series and get a kick out of singing along to Manuel's Spanish table dance.

Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience runs until February 22 with lunch and dinner performances.

Source : The West Australian    Lucy Ballyntyne   28th January 2015